Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/An East-Indian Fairy Story
AN EAST-INDIAN FAIRY STORY.[FROM "OLD DECCAN DAYS."]
All day she was yellow and grey and thin;
All day she was troubled with time and tears;
All day she was dressed in the withered skin
Of a woman who lived a hundred years.
All day she was troubled with time and tears;
All day she was dressed in the withered skin
Of a woman who lived a hundred years.
All day she begged, through the heavy heat,
For a drop of water, a grain of rice;
But she sat, in the twilight, still and sweet,
Close to the leaves of the blossoming spice.
For a drop of water, a grain of rice;
But she sat, in the twilight, still and sweet,
Close to the leaves of the blossoming spice.
At a fairy fountain dim in the air,
In a garment white as a priestess wears,
With a lotus-bud in her lovely hair,
And her hand in the water, she said her prayers.
In a garment white as a priestess wears,
With a lotus-bud in her lovely hair,
And her hand in the water, she said her prayers.
"Oh, well do I hide my beauty all day
From the sun and the cruel eyes I dread;
But the gods can see me when I pray,
And I must look fair to the gods," she said.
From the sun and the cruel eyes I dread;
But the gods can see me when I pray,
And I must look fair to the gods," she said.